Please Don't Tell: Rewritten
by Tajmoohal
Summary: When Clarke Torry receives a mysterious letter, he follows its instructions despite his conscious and ends up at a magical school. A place of wonder, far away from his abusive parents seems perfect until another student notices his bruises and questions are raised. As it becomes evident that his home life is far from perfect, he looks for a way out.
1. Chapter 1: The Hierarchy of Mulberry

Mulberry was known for being a quaint little town, a simple speck on the map of England; however to those who lived there it was home. To these 2,371 people, it was a mini paradise. Despite the fact it was almost four hours from London its residents were content to live their entire lives surrounded by folks who all knew each other's business. Most were even fine with the hierarchy of the place because most didn't even notice their town was ruled by one family, The Davises.

The Davises weren't a large family, just a mother, a father, and a little girl. Their lineage had been in Mulberry since the beginning and from the beginning they ruled the little town with charm and resourcefulness. The mother, Callie Aria Davis was a very glamorous women with her long dark hair curled like a pinup girl and flashy green eyes, she could capture anyone's attention. She was known for her compassion, affection, and most of all, her parties that she threw on the 20th of every month, without fail. Her husband, Andrew Zachary Davis was the mayor of their beautiful city. He had a take-charge attitude that, when paired with his good looks, caused people to see things his way. For years, he like his father and his grandfather, worked to change the city for the better. His family had such a hold on the town that almost no one tried to run against him when elections rolled around. Finally, there was Jessica Silvia Davis, the pride and joy of the family. She held the same persuasive charm as her father and had the gorgeous green eyes of her mother, but unlike her parents she didn't persuade with charm or great ideas, instead she used money as her weapon of choice. Whenever she wanted something, she told people that she'd pay them to get it for her and then reward them with small fees that to most children seemed like tons. She loved to be the best and when she wasn't, she targeted those who held the position.

One child who faced her wrath was Clarke Torry. For years he lived down the block from her, he was quiet and shy, and only became more invisible after his father's sudden death. Jessica never thought he would be a threat but as they entered grade school, it became evident that he was much better than her academically. He had a natural gift for reading and numbers. He could solve things easily and with a memory that held information like an encyclopedia, Jessica was no match for him. At first she tried to find out his secret to being so good at school, but he never told her anything other than it just happened; so she turned to more extreme methods of paying her class to ostracize him at the ripe age of 7 years old. However, to her frustration not everyone bent to her will. While the younger students and her classmates were easy to manipulate, the older children were not.

At first, Clarke's only friends after being pushed away from his own age-group were his half-sister, Guinevere Kaitlyn Gutierrez and her cousins. Guinevere, who started to go by Kaitlyn from the age of 5, was very protective of her younger half brother. She thought of him to be some sort of genius who could change the world, so she made it her mission to protect him. She loved to play with him, even though he was really terrible at football. Their friend circle only grew after a fateful day at the park where they met Austin Ross and Clementine Murray; and six months later it grew again with the introduction of Ben Melikov, an aloof new student in Kaitlyn's class.

By the time of his 9th birthday, Clarke had very close knit group of friends that he could rely on for anything. When he needed a place to stay he could stay with Kaitlyn. If someone was giving him trouble at school, there was Austin. When he needed a break from Jessica, Ben intervened and kept her from bullying him for a while. For advice, he could turn to Clementine who was wise beyond her years at the age of 13. Regardless of the bullying, he had wonderful friends who made his life perfect and worth living; and for him that was a big feat because by the time he was 10th birthday he was ready to die.


	2. Chapter 2: Stepfather Baldric

Clarke had been born to a girl just out of college and a boy who constantly called out the hierarchy in Mulberry. Olivia Hill was a sweet 22 year old with a bachelors in art. She had originally came to town at the age of 18 and ended up staying even after earning her degree. She was wide-eyed and naive. She found Monroe Torry's rebellious spirit enchanting and interesting, and that was the first thing she fell in love with. She met him at a bar, after being coaxed into going with a few friends at the age of 18, which was very exciting since in America doing so was illegal. He had been the bartender, he had crazy shoulder length curls tied in a little ponytail and blue eyes that drew her in. He flirted with her, and he was the reason she returned multiple times. She learned that his favorite color was green, he wanted two dogs but his mum was allergic, that every year since he had turned 18, he ran against Andrew Davis for the position of mayor, and the most interesting fact of all...he was a wizard. In return he found out that Olivia found the color pink drab, she thought cats were very weird, that she loved to sculpt, and she drank yogurt every morning before class.

By the time she turned 20, Olivia Hill was completely in love with the cheeky and very lively bartender. They got married a year later and a year after that they had Clarke Torry, who they named after the explorer. For four years, they lived in their little green house on Jewel Stone Road with their two dogs, taking care of their son. They were the perfect couple, who spent every weekend at the beach reading books to Clarke. Olivia taught her son to sculpt little animals that decorated shelves in every room of the house, and Monroe taught his son to control his gift, the gift of magic. The couple found out about their son's gift after they found the three year old levitating their pug. They were absolutely ecstatic and from a young age began to prepare the child to become a great wizard. However, every great story must come to an end and the family's came very suddenly when Monroe died in a tragic car accident outside of the city.

For a year, Olivia couldn't function. She had trouble taking care of her toddler son because she could hardly get herself out of the bed in the morning. Her older sister came from New York to take care of her and Clarke. Maggie, her elder sister of five years, soon got her back on her feet and by the time the anniversary of Monroe's death rolled around, she was able to go home because Olivia had once again become functional. Olivia relied on her friend, Maria Gutierrez for support; she supplied her with a job, and even introduced her to Baldric Weisberg. He weaseled his way into Olivia's and Clarke's everyday life by joining them on family events and taking Olivia on dates. By the time Clarke was in kindergarten, Baldric had began to date his mum. He loved him at first, not as much as his dad but Baldric had become a close second in his mind. When his mum and Baldric got married, he was excited. Everything seemed perfect until two months after the marriage.

At first, the abuse had only been verbal. He would tell him that he was useless and that he couldn't do anything right, in spite of his perfect grades and the fact that he was way ahead of his grade level. When he came home beaten up after an encounter with Xavier Bennett or the Agnelli twins, Baldric would tell him he was weak. It was bad, but it became much worse after Baldric caught Clarke working on his magic using his dad's old spell books. From there, Baldric began to beat him and even went as far to burn his spell books. Every time he couldn't find a reason to beat him, he would make one.

As the years went on, Baldric came up with new ways to abuse him: from burning his hands on the stove to throwing lamps and kitchenware at him. Most of the time however, he would simply hit him. Clarke went from his usual t-shirts and shorts to long sleeves and pants, and for the longest time his mother thought nothing of it. When he tried to tell her, she would tell him he was just being paranoid. When turning to his mother didn't work, he turned to his friends who provided him with a way out.

Clementine Murray was the leader of their group. She was kind and gentle, but she was also candid when needed. She was observant and that lead her to knowing Clarke was abused before he even told them. The first thing she noticed was the flinching, whenever someone yelled Clarke would flinch. The second was his beloved sassy comments stopped, so suddenly that it felt like a punch in the gut. Third, was his dissociating, whenever an argument of the group became too heated he would completely zone out. Her concern reached it's peak when her old second grade teacher, Miss Seabrooke told her that Clarke didn't raise his hand in class anymore and that he purposely answered questions on quizzes wrong. She found the new outfits odd, and it was the last straw that made her believe her friend was being abused; when her friend came to school with a black eye, three missing teeth, and a limp, her unease was confirmed.

Clarke asked her to call a meeting a week later, here it was where he told the rest of the group. At first Austin and Kaitlyn were pissed, Kiara and Abby were confused, Ben was worried for his friend, and Aaron tried to come up with an idea that would keep Clarke from having to be home all the time. It took an hour and a half for the group to come up with an idea to keep Clarke from having to go home, with only one incident of magic occurring during the discussion. In the end Kiara suggest babysitting; and the others spun off from it. Clementine said Clarke could take over babysitting Begonia for a while since she had to get back to her aggressive ice skating training, Abby offered a few of her babysitting clients, and Ben suggested he babysat his cousins for him.

Around the time his 10th birthday came upon him, babysitting neighborhood kids stopped working as excuse and his stepdad gave him more demands to follow. Slowly he became withdrawn and shut himself up in his studies. When he got home, he would hide himself in his room and listen for the thudding footsteps of his stepdad; yet with each abuse event he began to become relieved as the steps ascended up the stairs wondering if maybe this time will be his last and he would be free.


	3. Chapter 3: The Mysterious Letter

One of Clarke's jobs for when his parents were out was to check the mail. Most of the time, the mail was bills or even letters for his mother from her American friends. Not once in his life, had he ever received a letter of his very own so when a fancy letter arrived for him, his heart stopped. He wondered if this was a cruel joke from his stepfather, until memories of the stories of witches and wizards that used to be told by his real father came to mind. He dashed upstairs to hide it in his room before his parents came home. Once it was stashed away in between the pages of his favorite book, he ran downstairs to work on the house. He cleaned the house as quickly as he could manage, and only when he was done did he go back upstairs to his room. He closed his door cautiously and sat cross legged on his blue sheets before gently opening the letter.

"Dear Mr. Torry," he read with a small smile forming on his face. "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl-" he stopped his reading and gave an annoyed and worried sigh. "Owl?! Where on bloody earth am I supposed to get an owl?" he mumbled to himself. He pressed his lips together and pushed his orange glasses back up to their place before eagerly pulling Kaitlyn's laptop from his bag. Right away he went to searching for a store that sold owls, eventually he found one at the far edge of London. With no time to lose he tucked the letter in his pocket and ordered a taxi by calling on the house phone. Within an hour he was out the door carrying a bag on his shoulder and in the taxi heading to London. Using money from his hidden piggy bank, he paid the taxi fare and walked the rest of the way to the shop.

The store was a bit peculiar with its bright orange paint and a sign that read Hoots. He gingerly walked inside and to the desk where a young woman stood counting money from the register. She didn't even notice him until he mumbled a very quiet, "Excuse me." She looked up at him with wide brown eyes, completely surprised and enthusiastic to have a customer.

"What can I help you with today love?" she asked with a smile, that spread to both ears.

"I need to buy your cheapest owl," Clarke told her.

"Alrighty, that'll be 133 pounds," she informed him before skipping to the back to get an owl. She came back with a simple barn owl. "This is Penelope, she's kind of wild and she pecks but she's my cheapest."

"Thank you," and with that Clarke took the owl and left the money in the clerk's hands. He quickly left to the nearest park, the bird flapping in her cage. He set the cage on the bench and pulled a notebook and a pen from his bag and quickly scrawled a letter.

"Dear-" he stopped to check who had written him. "Dear Mr. Perkins,

I, Clarke Torry, am pleased to accept your acceptance. I shall see you in the fall.

Sincerely, Clarke Torry" the young curly haired boy signed the letter and looked over at his new bird.

"You don't have to come back, but please. Please find Hogwarts. I'm living in a bloody hell hole and I need to leave… Please just take this.." he begged the bird before reaching in to tie the rolled up lined paper to the bird's leg with a purple ribbon that Clementine had left once at his house. Once he was sure the letter was secure, he released the owl and watched her fly away.

The moment he was sure she was gone, he started his journey to find a taxi that would take him home. He got back home an hour and a half after his parents did, which earned him a beating that left him sore and a sprained wrist, but he didn't care because just maybe the adventure he went on would help him escape from Baldric and his now awful mum who had turned on him for the slimy grease bag known as his stepfather.

After he was sure his parents were passed out, he went to work to write letters to his friends so if he left they wouldn't be worried about where he had gone. The first person he wrote to was Kaitlyn because in his mind she held a slightly higher rank than the rest on his friendship meter. She chose him over Jessica and she never left, and for that she was perfect.

"Dear Kaitlyn,

You have stuck by me through thick and thin. I hated seeing you cry when I told you about the abuse and I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I'm running away to Hogwarts, remember all those stories dad used to tell us? The ones about his old schoolmates and being a wizard? I got accepted! I'm leaving first thing in the morning of September 1st. I'll write you if I can. If I can't just know that I know you're going to be a great football player. You'll be a great big sister to that little one that's on the way and all in all you'll keep being absolutely perfect. Thank you for sticking with me for so long. I love you.

With Love,

Your Brother"

Next, he worked on Clementine's, Austin's, Ben's, and finally one for each of the Gutierrez cousins who helped him.

"Dear Clem,

You're a natural born leader, you're observant and strong. You're lovely and kind. I hope you'll become mayor of our silly little town if that's still what you want, kick Jessica's prissy arse in elections. But personally, I think you can take on the world, go be the prime minister of somewhere, go rule, or don't. Just go and change the world. Lead events that can save lives, help the poor, keep working to help others because that's what is wonderful about you. I know you're going to inspire a lot of people. I'm leaving for Hogwarts, that magical school I told you my dad went to. Don't worry about me, for me go inspire and use that wit of yours to make others love you as much as I do.

With love,

Clarke Torry"

"Dear Austin,

Stop being such a prick. I love you to bits but the rate you're going, you're going to give poor Clem a heart attack before 30. Keep defending the weak and small, keep helping others. Go be a famous cricket player. Keep an eye on Clem and Kaitlyn for me please. I hope that you might take my advice to heart. Thank you again for trying to teach me how to throw a proper punch, I did hit Xavier that one time and it was awesome.

With love,

Clarke Torry"

"Dear Ben,

Thank you for sacrificing your soul and dignity to keep Jessica off my back. Those small breaks without her were complete bliss. I'm sorry we kind of tore down your wall of aloofness, don't try to build it back up though because Kaitlyn has a massive crush on you and will probably kick it down with such force you might get a concussion. I pray that you keep having fun with the others because Lord knows you need it. Don't stop enjoying life, live it to its fullest. Also for pete's sake just tell Kaitlyn you like her!

With love,

Clarke Torry"

"Dear Abby,

Ever since my mom stopped caring for me, you've been like a mom for me. You've kept me together for years and even if Kaitlyn wasn't around you let me in the house and comforted me. You have such a big heart, I hope you never get hurt because of it. Please never stop caring. Please take care of Kaitlyn because I know me leaving is going to hurt her. Thank you for every pep talk and warm hug, they were all appreciated.

With love,

Clarke Torry"

"Dear Sam

You're a fantastic person, a little rough around the edges but you're a fighter and tough. You have always been a great help and it's been a joy to watch you and Austin agree on who you should beat up before Abby and Clem turn down the idea. I hope you stay friends with everyone else and never let Jessica to try and intimidate you. I know you don't like school, but please stay in it. You want to be a doctor one day right? Cut into people's chests and save their lives, well that requires school so I hope you get used to it.

With Love,

Clarke Torry"

"Dear Kiara,

Thank you for being so out there and creative. I see you inspire Kaitlyn everyday, PS, you're her favorite cousin. Your wild hair and drawings, and not becoming a model citizen to fit into high school makes Kaitlyn ecstatic. Thank you for your babysitting idea which saved me from so many beatings. I know you're going to be a great artist one day so get yourself out there early. Keep painting, drawing, and whatever else you do. Go to New York or Italy for college don't get stuck here.

With Love,

Clarke Torry"

"Dear Aaron,

You always worked outside the box to try and solve a problem. Use that big brain of yours to change the world. Keep learning, keep trying every crazy hypothesis you can come up with. Don't stop trying no matter how many failures. Work with Clem, she can help you polish your leadership skills so you can do great things.

With Love,

Clarke Torry"

Once every letter was written, he sealed it into it's own envelope and set them each in a book that was given to him by the friend he had written for. That night, he fell into a peaceful sleep dreaming of magic and the impossible.


	4. Chapter 4: A New Beginning

The morning of September 1st, Clarke snuck out as the sun rose from the horizon. Silently, he called a cab and with two bags in hand left his home for what he hoped would be forever. As he rode in the back of the yellow car, he wondered if the school would be as glamourous as his father had always described. He spent the entire ride, captured in his thoughts and at the end of it, he used money stolen from his mother to pay the driver.

From that point forward, he went to work looking for the train. For over an hour he searched for the correct one, and to his dismay he didn't find it. As the adrenaline that had given him the courage to run away, began to fade, the anxiety and distress he had been holding at bay hit him like the train he was searching for. With no idea of what else to do, the child curled up in a corner of the station and began to cry. As time passed he slowly lost the energy to weep, and soon fell into a shallow sleep.

While Clarke hadn't been able to find the Hogwarts train, many other children who had been given guidance on where to find it were able to. One such girl was Eloise Harper, a little brunette pureblood who had lived most of her life in the muggle world. She had been on her way to where the train was stopped when her eyes caught a glimpse of a very small child hidden away in a nearby corner. "Uncle Westley, please… can we help?" she asked softly tugging her uncle's sleeve. Her uncle followed her gaze and nodded. He allowed her to go on to check the boy, who he believed to possibly be a homeless child.

Eloise Harper approached Clarke with a smile. She gently shook him awake. "Hey, are you alright?" she questioned in a soft tone to keep from frightening the boy. Clarke shook his head meekly.

"I can't find my train. It's not here. I checked all of them and when I asked about it, the guard said he had no idea…" he explained with a voice hoarse from crying.

"I can help." Eloise stated brushing some hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear. "Where are you going?"

"To Hogwarts, it's a magical school and supposedly there's a train here but I can't find it.. I'm.. I'm starting to think this was a joke.." Clarke admitted, furiously rubbing away tears that threatened to spill with the sleeve of his blue button up. His response caused Eloise to laugh.

"It's not a joke, silly! I'm going there too. Would you like to come with me?" she queried with a large smile that stretched from ear to ear. She then took his hand and dragged him back to her uncles. "Uncle Westley, Uncle Hunter, this is,.. What's your name?" she asked looking over at the boy.

"It's Clarke…" the other child replied softly in almost a whisper.

"His name is Clarke, he's going to Hogwarts too, isn't that grand?! Eloise insisted with an enthusiastic grin. Westley Harper examined the child and gave a cautious smile. While Clarke looked like a nice enough boy, it was concerning how he didn't seem to have any sort of guardian near him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Clarke, I'm Westley, I'm Eloise's uncle," he greeted keeping his concerned smile on his face.

"Love, we should get these two to the train. It's just about time for it to leave," Hunter, Westley's dark haired husband told him. Together, the young adults walked to the column in between stations 9 and 10.

"Alright, so how you get there is you run straight into it, also it's like fairy dust so you have to believe or it won't work," Eloise told him. "Now you first," she gave the other boy a small nudge and with his eyes shut he ran full speed at the brick column.

He ran through the bricks and straight into a boy chatting with a few friends. The boy barely noticed him other than to give him a disgusted look before walking away. Clarke sheepishly stood up and watched as Eloise and her uncles walked in. Quickly Eloise's uncles gave her kisses and hugs goodbye before letting her board the train with Clarke trailing behind her.

At first the pair stayed together and even bought snacks to share, but about half an hour into the ride Eloise wandered off to chat with friends and Clarke was left alone. After she left, Clarke went straight to pulling a book from his bag to read. He was completely buried in his book when another boy shuffled in and sat across from him. "Hello!" he addressed with a grin causing Clarke to jump.

"Oh um.. Hi?" he mumbled looking up at the other boy. This boy had light brown hair that fell just below his ears, dark brown eyes, and a large grin that seemed plastered on his face.

"I'm Chris, are you a first year too?" he asked with a smile. "Is that your actual eye color? It's so blue…"

Clarke blushed and sighed. He tucked a piece of paper into his book to mark his page and set it beside him. "Yes I am and yes it is," he answered trying to keep his slight annoyance from showing. He imagined that this conversation could go one of two ways from experience, either he could hurt this boy's feelings or he could get beat up for a wrong comment.

"So what are you reading?" Chris questioned, causing Clarke to light up like a christmas tree.

"Oh um well.. It's about a boy who leads a rebellion against a corrupt government," he began. Once he realized Chris was looking at him with curiosity shining in his eyes he continued. "The book starts with this government, it's completely corrupt. They have these walls that go around the entire kingdom to keep out these mutated animals that live in the lands surrounding it. To keep these walls up, they take money from the aristocrats, you know the rich people of the kingdom. The aristocrats don't care as long as they get something in return. So the government starts taking children from the lower classes of the social pyramid and giving them to these aristocrats to fund their walls and defense. Most of these kids don't live good lives, one child is Basil Smith. Now Basil was from a lower aristocratic family, he didn't need to sold but because his father died, his mother decided she wouldn't keep him because he wasn't very strong because he had a bad heart. He-" he was then cut off by Chris.

"Well what happens to him? Also this sounds really dark," Chris commented as he grew more intrigued.

"That's what I'm about to tell you. Anyways, Basil is sold to this awful man who uses him for…" he then lowered his voice a little, "he uses him for sex and keeps him locked away in a dark room. Basil lives like that for five years but then he takes an opportunity and kills his master and runs away. For months, he lives on the streets becoming so unrecognizable no one can find him. One day he meets a girl named Bethany, she'll become his best friend later. He finds out she's also a slave but she's still following her master's commands. So he goes and helps her escape, They live together, stealing and trying to come up with a plan before Basil decides they should start a rebellion by collecting slave children and bringing them to the forest where they could learn to live away. This plan works and slowly but surely they have a group of over 20, and the group only keeps growing. They don't turn to violence until cops find a half the group in town and kills them. So then to defund the wall, they start to kill aristocrats and save the slaves that way. My favorite thing about it is that it's first person of Basil and then also of a cop who becomes important later," Clarke described. He spoke with such enthusiasm that it made Chris happy he asked.

"That's quite the story, would you recommend it?" Chris asked.

"I'd have my recommendation written on my headstone," Clarke insisted. From there, the conversation only grew and in almost no time the pair became good friends. Clarke learned about Chris' love for videogames, his favorite food was spaghetti, and that he was a halfblood like him. In exchange, Chris learned more about Clarke's love for reading, the fact he had lavender candles in his bag because they calmed him down, and he ran away from home because his parents were against magic. By the end of the train ride, Chris was sure that he and Clarke would be best friends in no time.


	5. Chapter 5: The First Feast of Freedom

When the train arrived to the marvelous castle known as Hogwarts, the first years were separated and sent by boats to the structure. A teacher, a tall woman in her 40s with a long braid that reached the middle of her back, an oval shaped face, then guided them down the hall to the Great Hall which was filled with tables full of children from the ages of 12 to 17. Clarke closely followed Chris and even sat by him in the chairs in front of a stool. The teacher who guided them in then took her place by the stool and raised her hands to signal the chattering kids teens and preteens to quiet down. Once everyone became silent she began. "I am Professor Miranda Beckett. If you are sorted into Slytherin, I will be your head of house and I am your charms professor, so don't upset me. Now, I will have our sorting hat carried out. He will then sing his song and after I will call you starting by the beginning of the alphabet according to your last name-" she was then cut off by Eloise who frowned at the idea of being stuck in the middle.

"Professor Beckett, I don't believe that's fair. There are kids here, like myself, who are excited to go first and then you have the ones who are terrified to be called up. So what if we do it by volunteering instead?" she asked. Professor Beckett pursed her lips and sighed.

"What if there are no kids who wants to go?" she challenged.

"Well you have magic, you could make slips of paper and randomly pull them, or hand out numbers," Eloise insisted. As she spoke, she brushed her dark brown bangs from her face and gave a smile when she finished.

"Fine, since you made such a helpful suggestion. You may go first after the hat's song." Professor Beckett told her before gesturing at the door for a seventh year girl in Slytherin robes to come out carrying the hat. Once it was set down it sang. After the song, Eloise skipped over and sat in the stool.

"Hmm… You would do good in Gryffindor.. You're brave and loyal.. But you also have loads of ambition. You're resourceful. I shall put you in.." the hat murmured before announcing, "Slytherin!"

With a happy squeal, Eloise scurried over to the table who cheered once the house was announced and took a seat at one of the empty spots. One by one, students volunteered. Eventually it reached a point to where 16 students were left with no child wanting to go next. Professor Beckett summoned strips of parchment, each with a number on it. Clarke received the number 2, so after a girl by the name of Layla Moore was sorted into Hufflepuff, it was his turn. He dragged his feet to the stool before sitting down. He bit his lip and mumbled his hopes to be placed in Gryffindor where Chris had been sorted. The hat listened to his begs, wondering why someone better suited for Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff would want to be in Gryffindor. Hesitantly, the hat sorted him into Gryffindor.

Fourteen children later, the sorting was finished with. In the end there were 38 Gryffindors, 36 Slytherins, 33 Hufflepuffs, and 28 Ravenclaws. The children and teachers settled down to eat, Chris and Clarke sat together with large grins on their faces. An old man then stood up and greeted the children. "Good Evening, I am your Headmaster, Professor Hilbert. I welcome our first years to our wonderful school and I would like to make rules known to them and remind our returning students of them. The Forbidden Forest is absolutely forbidden, don't ever enter the forest for any reason and if I or any teacher hear about you doing so, you will be severely punished. Curfew is 11 on the dot, you mustn't wander after that time. Boys aren't allowed in the girls' dorms and vice versa. I don't want to see any students using valuable class time to show public displays of affection, while relationship between students aren't forbidden any that interfere with a student's learning will be terminated," he announced before sitting down. Professor Beckett then gave a clap, a food began to appear on each of the long tables.

Clarke stared at the food in awe. He couldn't believe that so much food appeared in an instant. He wanted to eat but he couldn't bring himself to even take a roll, his hands felt numb and was trembling too much for him to move them. He watched with envy as others flew at the food and snatched it up like bats to stack it tall on their plates. He couldn't bring himself to touch it due to his mind clouding with the memory of his stepfather grabbing his hand with a piercing grip and shoving it on the stove. Soon enough, Chris noticed his friend's odd behavior and nudged him bring him back to reality. "Are you alright?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmm.. yeah," Clarke replied in a mumble tucking his hands in between his legs to hide their trembling.

"You need to eat," Chris chidded, and with that began to place food on Clarke's plate. Clarke gape at him, panic and embarrassment quickly setting in as he realized his new peers' eyes were upon them.

"I-I can serve my own food!" Clarke protested as his cheeks turned bright pink. Chris held up his hands in defense and laughed, he then turned back to his own food with a large smile before melting into conversation with the kids around him. Clarke slipped small treats into his robe pockets along with four rolls for later. He then went to work to eat the chicken leg on his plate. The taste of the food made him excited and break into a big smile, it was better than anything he ever tasted.

As the first years ate on one side of the table, they were confronted by a group of eight older children. A girl with skin a warm gold like a cinnamon roll covered in chocolate freckles, brown eyes, and bright crimson hair lead the group. She ran a hand through her ruby waves and smiled. "I'm Saffron Bishara, I thought I should reach out to you firsties early, anyways I'm captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Three of my members are graduating at the end of this year so I'd really appreciate it if you guys think about trying out next year and if you don't want to make sure you come and cheer us on," she spoke with an arabic accent. "Now this is Nellie, she's a fourth year and one of our beaters, our other one is Thomas and he's a 7th year. Then we have our chasers Faiyaz who is 6th year, Jackie who was in your spot last year, and me. Finally we have our keeper, Leonardo; and our seeker, Iris. They're both 7th years," she explained pointing to each of her teammates. Nellie was a short and stocky girl with brown hair tied in two braids, a round face, and purple cat eye glasses over gray eyes. Thomas was the tallest of the bunch, he had platinum blond waves that fell to his shoulders, a face full of freckles, and dark blue eyes. Faiyaz had skin the color of toffee, amber eyes, and hair only a few inches from his scalp. He greeted the first years with a large smile. Jackie, being only a 2nd year was the smallest of the group. She wore her straight black hair in a bob and had dark brown eyes. Iris was the tallest girl, being only a head shorter than Thomas. She had mocha skin, curly hair with streaks of caramel, dark brown eyes, and four piercings in each ear. Leonardo wore his red-brown hair tied in a little ponytail, he had warm eyes the color of summer grass, and honey colored skin. A mix of voices greeted the first years. The kids asked the older group questions, and the night continued.

The feast came to an end around 10, at which point the prefects from each house gathered their respective house's first years and lead them to their dorms. The children decided amongst themselves their roommates and split up into the dorm rooms, In the end, Clarke and Chris got to share along with three other boys. Clarke was the first to settle, the moment he entered the room he found his bag and placed it at the bed at the far end of the room, closest to the dorm's half bathroom.. He then went to the bathroom to change, wincing as his bandages brushed against his clothing. Before anyone could greet him, he was out like a light knowing he would have to get up very early to shower before anyone else was up.

As he slept, his roommates introduced themselves to each other. Almost instantly the other took a liking to Chris due to his laid back personality and general friendliness. The other boys in the room presented themselves as Paul Robinson, John Elliott, and Anthony Fletcher. Paul was quickly labeled as the most hyperactive of the group, with brown eyes full of ambitious ideas. John Elliott seemed serious at first but quickly turned out to be the joker of the group, and Anthony Fletcher was the curious one of the bunch who always seemed mildly confused but happy to help. While the group found Chris enjoyable, they put Clarke down as odd due to the fact he didn't even introduce himself before bed, Chris attempted to cover for him saying he was sick and tired from the train ride which turned out to be good enough for the others. As succumbed to sleep, he hoped that Clarke would be friendlier in the morning.


	6. Chapter 6: Night Wandering

Clarke Torry wasn't one to sleep in or well in general, his dreams always turned into nightmares. His first night at Hogwarts was plagued with nightmares, so it wasn't surprising to him when he woke up covered in sweat, his heart pounding in his chest. With a shaky breath, he pulled off his blankets and slipped out of bed. He scurried into the bathroom and washed his face with ice cold water to remind himself that it was only a nightmare. As he stared at his flushed cheeks and sweat soaked curls, he frowned. He couldn't remember a time when he wasn't afraid, and that thought terrified him. A panicked look now replacing his frown, he went to work to search for something he knew would calm him down, the library.

Silently, he snuck out of his dorm and down to the common room, an orange flashlight in hand. He then opened the portrait and ran down the hall, keeping his steps light to try and keep them from causing the floor to creak. To the best of his ability, he moved quietly through the halls and shined his flashlight at the ground attempting not to make a sound that would alert someone of his wandering. Despite all his tiny careful steps and held breath, he ended up waking a portrait.

"Dear, what in the world are you doing up?" the portrait whispered, causing the little boy to jump in fear.

"Who said that..?!" he whispered, his voice shaking as the words left his mouth.

"Up here darling. Now back to you, what are you doing up at such a late hour? You're much too little to be losing sleep," the portrait scolded. Clarke hesitantly raised the dim light from the ground to the small portrait's face.

"You're a talking painting! Chris said that there was such a thing but I didn't think they were real.." Clarke spoke softly, amazement and wonder evident in his tone.

"Oh you must be a muggle born.. Poor thing.. Are you homesick?" the portrait cooed.

"Um.. not really.. I just want to find the library… I can't sleep" Clarke explained softly. The portrait sighed, hesitant to give him the answer since she really thought he should just go back to bed.

"It's down the hall.. To the left." she said at last. "Go to sleep soon darling," she called in a gentle whisper as Clarke dashed away.

Once Clarke got to the library he went to work to try and find the perfect book to read. He held the flashlight in his mouth in order to use both hands to look for the right book. Eventually he decided to settle with a history book. He curled up on one of the large chairs and shined his flashlight at the pages to read. An hour and a half later, he finished and got up to find more books. He retreated back to the chair to continue his reading, and at some point through the third book he fell asleep.

While Clarke finished reading his second book, Chris stirred awake; woken up by his need to use the bathroom. Half asleep, he stumbled to the tiny half bathroom and did his business. It wasn't until he was heading back to his bed did he notice that Clarke was missing. The realization woke him up quicker than a bucket of cold water could, he knew that the other boy was jumpy and anxious. The thought that maybe he left crossed his mind and he panicked knowing if Clarke had tried to leave he would be lost and could even end up in the Forbidden Forest. He grabbed his robe off the top of his trunk and slipped it on as he hurried out of the room and to the common room, praying to find him there. When he didn't, he started to mumble to himself trying to come up with ideas of what to do in this situation. As he talked to himself, another voice interrupted his thoughts.

"What are you doing?" the voice asked followed by a giggle. Chris whipped around to the voice and soon found that it belonged to a girl in a painting.

"Who are you?" he questioned muttering "Lumos," under his breath to make the tip of his wand light up. The girl in the portrait had light strawberry blonde hair tied into a singular braid that went over her left shoulder and light almost gray eyes. She wore a bright green dress and a locket in the shape of a rose.

"The name is Bailey McClaggen, who are you?" she countered wearing a large smile.

"Chris Lyle. You haven't happened to see my friend have you? He is shorter than me, he has curly black hair and blue eyes, he wear orange glasses," he described Clarke for her hoping she had some idea on where he could be at such a late hour. Bailey bit her bottom lip in thought before shaking her head.

"No.. but I could find him!" she suggested, a grin stretching across her face. "I'll be right back," and with that the girl disappeared out of her portrait. Chris gave a loud sigh and sat on one of the red couches, waiting for her return; which came half an hour later.

"He's in the library. I think he picked the lock to get in," she informed, giggling a bit at the fact someone had found it necessary to break into the library in the middle of the night.

"He's okay right?" Chris asked jumping up to get ready to leave.

"Oh yeah, he's completely fine. He's fast asleep on one of the little couch chairs," Bailey reassured him.

"Thank you so much, I really appreciate it," Chris told her with a smile before leaving to the library.

When he got there, he gently pushed the door open and walked inside. Once he found Clarke curled up where Bailey said he would be, he couldn't help but smile and roll his eyes. He then took the open book from his lap and moved it to the floor. Very gently, he shook Clarke awake and talked in a quiet voice trying not to startle him. "Clarke, wake up, we need to go back to the room," he whispered, coaxing Clarke from sleep.

"Hmm?" Clarke hummed in response, half opening his eyes. Chris pulled him up from the couch, waking him further.

"Time to go back to bed," he told him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to guide his sleepy roommate back to their room. As soon as they reached the room, he lead him over to his bed and tucked him in before climbing back into his own and falling back asleep.


	7. Chapter 7: Classes Begin

Clarke awoke the next morning in a mild panic, before remembering he wasn't at home. He rolled out of bed and grabbed his things from his bag to head to the showers. He hoped he had woken up early enough to take a shower before anyone else was awake, but to his perturbation the showers were packed. With panic settling back in, he went back to the bathroom and put his shower things away before grabbing the uniform that Chris had given him the day before and roll of bandages and a bottle of disinfectant spray, and heading into the half bathroom and locking himself in. He stripped and looked himself over. He then gently unwrapped the bandages he had covering his shoulders and back. With a sigh he sprayed an infected cut going from his shoulder to mid back, he checked his other cuts and marks, spraying them and wrapping them back up before wrapping them properly once more and throwing the old ones in the garbage.

Once he finished, he exited the bathroom to find that all of his roommates were up except for Chris. He greeted them with a small wave before going over to the door to leave; however before he could even open the door, one of the boys stopped him.

"Where are you going?" he asked, his brown eyes showing his slight annoyance.

"...Breakfast?" Clarke replied hesitantly.

"You were going to leave without us?" another boy asked frowning.

"Not cool," the third unknown boy commented sitting on his bed to put on his shoes.

"Roommates?" Clarke asked trying to make sure these were actually supposed to be the boys he was living with for a year.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry we forgot to introduce ourselves properly. I'm Anthony," the boy who made the second comment said. He had large brown eyes, dark brown hair, and stood quite tall compared to the first boy who spoke. Clarke nodded and hesitantly shook his hand.

"I'm John. You were pretty clocked out yesterday. How come you didn't stay up?" another boy asked brushing ash blond hair from his moss green eyes.

"I got sick on the train.. It was my first time, I wasn't prepared for it…" Clarke explained trailing off.

"You've only be on a train once? Yeesh, you need to explore more mate," the first boy who spoke said. He had his brown hair in a little ponytail, his attitude reminded him a bit of Kaitlyn which made him a little homesick. "I'm Paul, by the way."

"Well um.. If that's all-" Clarke began to say before being interrupted by Antony.

"How come you're so eager to leave, also you never told us your name," Anthony said giving him a bit of an odd look.

"It's Clarke, now I-" he was then interrupted by Paul.

"Are you a muggleborn?" he asked.

"Mug-"

"It means that you don't have magical parents," Paul explained.

"My dad was magical.." Clarke mumbled, becoming more uncomfortable the longer he chatted with the trio. He looked over at Chris, and let out a sigh of relief when he noticed he was waking up. "Chris, we should go to breakfast," he announced to him. Chris gave him a mumbled phrase as response before climbing out of bed with a yawn.

"You're quite fidgety," John noted watching Clarke become anxious at being crowded by the three boys.

"I'm sorry…" Clarke said softly pushing up his glasses. As he waited for Chris to finish getting up and getting ready, he looked around the room. Noticing the coloring was all red and gold except for the furniture. When his eyes landed on a tabby cat on one of the beds he raised an eyebrow, "A cat?" he asked returning his gaze back to his chatty roommates.

"That's mine, his name is Milo," Anthony chirped flopping on his bed and petting the feline happily.

"I have a cat too, Paul and Chris have owls," John voiced.

"Oh cool.." Chris hesitated, shifting his gaze at his bag wondering if he should tuck a book in the pocket of his robes.

Chris then broke his train of thought, by patting his shoulder, luckily his unharmed one. "Alright, let's get going, I'm starving," he admitted with a grin. The five of them then strolled into the common room and started their way to the exit, but before they could leave a teacher announced for everyone to stay a few minutes.

"Now, for those of you who don't know, I am Professor Perkins. I am your head of house, which means I am in charge of you. I am sure you are all excited to head down to breakfast, but first I must inform you of the rules of our house. For most of you, this is simply review but for our 38 first years this is new. Now I have seven simple rules, all of which **must** be followed," he stressed the must before clearing his throat. "Vanessa, go check the breakfast hall and make sure to gather up any Gryffindors who are down there already. Alice, go to the girls' rooms and grab any of them who are still there. Thomas, please go get the boys," he ordered three older students who all quickly disappeared before each coming back with a few kids. "Now my rules are number one, bullying is not tolerated. We are the house of the brave and the courageous, we stand up for the bullied and we never bully ourselves. Rule number two, I don't care what nonsense you heard about the Slytherin and Gryffindor rivalry, this class will be the generation to destroy the rivalry, so we don't participate in it with ganging up and dirty fighting, we will beat them with our grades and our quidditch not with bullying. Ruler number three, skipping class is not allowed, if you do I will know and I will give you detention. Rule number four, if you are in trouble, seek out an upperclassman. We are family and take care of each other, I want the first years to defend the next year students the same way any of your upperclassmen would defend you. Rule number five, I want your beds made; while we do have house elves, I will not let you take advantage of them. Rule number six, if you know someone is in trouble whether it be at home or here, come to me or another teacher. The final rule is, you are family for the entire time you're here, you need to help and respect each other," the teacher finished. He dusted off his red robes and smiles. "Have a wonderful breakfast."

The moment he finished with his speech, the children flooded out the door and to the great hall. The five first years, walked together, Clarke trailing a little further behind as he made his way downstairs with his roommates. Once sitted, the boys almost instantly dug into their food, mingling with the various students around them as they ate. At this meal, Clarke hid more finger foods in his pocket, just incase they suddenly stopped feeding him. All in all, so far the day was going nicely, he just hoped it would stay that way. After breakfast, the children made their way to their first class, Potions.


	8. Chapter 8: Diagon Alley

Potions seemed exciting from what Clarke heard about it from some of the other students at breakfast. From his understanding, it seemed like chemistry, which made him eager to get to class since he had gotten quite good at it over the years from practicing with Aaron, Kaitlyn's mad scientist in the making cousin. He practically skipped to class, excited to start something he hoped he would be good at.

By the time he got to class, most of the seats next to other Gryffindors were filled up, luckily for him Eloise was in the same class. He happily slid into the seat next to her and threw her a smile. "So, how was breakfast?" he asked.

"Absolutely terrible, my head of house is nice and all but she's really into healthy eating so I had to eat plain porridge this morning…" Eloise sighed and pouted. "On the bright side, I have very lovely roommates. I have four of them. There's Taylor, she's smart and likes to read like you do. Delilah is pretty cool, she knows a whole bunch about charms, and said I could go to her for help. Delaney is really sweet, she thinks my hamsters are cool and she does this muggle thing called ice skating. She said she'd teach me when winter comes along. Finally, there's Erin, she had this like cool side thing going, she even has blue hair, can you believe that?"

"That sounds exciting," Clarke laughed.

"How are yours?" Eloise asked as she waited for the teacher to walk in.

"They're okay, kind of overwhelming I guess... But they mean well..?" Clarke replied just as the teacher made her appearance. She looked strict with her short honey blonde hair, small nose, and thin face with high cheekbones. She soon stood in front of her class and looked them over. "I will be your potions teacher, my name is Vera Petrov but you will call me Professor Petrov. Now to start off, I would like to go around the room, each student will introduce themselves… but first, pull out your books and cauldrons so I can mark off that you have them," she asserted in a strong Russian accent, a smile not leaving her face; which quickly cleared Clarke's fears of her being strict.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the students began to pull their potions book and cauldron from their bags, all except Clarke which quickly caught her attention. "Gryffindor boy by the Slytherin girl, back row, what is your name?" she asked turning her gaze to him, which to his distress caused others to look his way,

"Clarke Torry ma'am.," he mumbled softly.

"Speak up please," Professor Petrov asked, guilt settling in for calling him out.

"Clarke Torry," Clarke answered louder as his embarrassment caused his cheeks and ears to turn red.

"Can we please speak out in the hall Clarke?" the professor asked, Clarke, nodded meekly grabbing his bag and following her outside her classroom. "I am sorry for calling you out in class… but can you please tell me why you didn't pull out your things?"

"I don't have them," Clarke answered keeping his eyes on the floor.

"You don't have them with you?" she questioned raising an eyebrow.

"I-I don't have them at all…" Clarke whispered softly biting his lip, waiting for the slap.

"Come with me," Professor Petrov ordered. She first stopped at the next door classroom to ask the teacher to watch her students, once that was settled she brought him to the headmaster's office.

"Headmaster Hilbert, this child does not have any of the required supplies," she informed the old man. "He could have gotten on the train by mistake.." she suggested, becoming a little horrified at the thought.

"Now you and I both know that is impossible," the headmaster chided before turning to the child. "Who might you be?"

"C-C-Clarke T-Torry... S-sir…" Clarke answered, fear settling in as he wondered if they would send him back home, where his stepfather would probably kill him. The headmaster, to his shock, lit up at his response,

"Vera, this is Monroe's son, don't you remember, he was in your class. I see it now, he's a carbon copy of his father, except your father never wore glasses and I think he cut off all his hair... His third year." the headmaster said with a smile. "How is he doing?"

Clarke shifted his feet and turned his gaze to the floor, "S-Sir... H-he died a long time ago.." he mumbled biting his lip hard enough to even cause it to bleed. The headmaster's face fell at the news, he had liked Monroe, the family had been well known in the wizarding word and he had seen quite a few of the family members pass through Hogwarts, but Monroe had been his favorite, He found the boy's interest in the muggle world amusing and the fact he wanted to invent things for the muggles wonderful.

"I'm so sorry Clarke, your father was a wonderful man," the headmaster claimed hoping to bring the child some comfort. He then knelt to the child's height. "Did your mother not bring you to Diagon Alley?" he asked. Clarke shook his head in response. The headmaster then smiled and patted his head standing up. "We'll fix that."

In the span of a few minutes, he contacted Clarke's head of house who walked out of the fireplace another five minutes later. "Now, Carter, it seems you have a child who was deprived of a Diagon Alley trip. Could you take him?" he asked, handing the teacher a bag of galleons. The other professor nodded, and as soon as he did, the headmaster sent the potions teacher back to class. The pair made their way to the shopping center through the fireplace, which did scare Clarke at first.

The sight of the shops blew his vivid colors and relatively quiet streets made him enthusiastic. However, he didn't have much time to soak in the colors, since Professor Perkins quickly began to bring his towards a nearby shop. Clarke followed behind, keeping silent as he walked. The instant the pair entered the shop, a wave of claustrophobia came over Clarke, the cramped shop reminding him of the tiny bedroom he had at home, only big enough for a desk and a bed. Once up to the desk, Professor Perkins tapped a bell. As they waited, Professor Perkins turned towards Clarke. "For a child, you don't talk very much," he commented.

"I don-" Clarke started to say, but was soon interrupted by the shop owner which he was grateful for.

"Hello, I am Jackson Maxime, though of course you already knew that," he addressed Professor Perkins. He then shifted his focus to Clarke, "I'm guessing you need a wand," he said with a smile before disappearing towards the back. He came back a few minutes later carrying a few boxes. "Now, this is a nine-inch Alder wood wand with unicorn hair core," he explained handing him the wand. Clarke took it and gave it a small wave, causing sparks to fly from it and create flowers that filled every nook and cranny of the shop. Jackson made a small offing sound and sighed. "Definitely not that one…" he mumbled to himself, taking the wand from the boy. He set it back in its box and handed him another one.

Clarke hesitantly gave the wand a wave, and to his surprise, a little bird formed from the sparks and flew around the room before disappearing. "That, that is your wand, kid!" Jackson exclaimed with a smile.

"T-Thank you…" Clarke stuttered. The pair then left, Clarke's new wand tucked away in his pocket. Next, the duo went to the bookstore. It took an hour to get to the basic supplies and at the end of the of the trip there were only a few more stops to make.

The professor guided Clarke into the robe boutique, greeting the store owner as they entered. "Carson! I didn't expect to see you at this time of the school year. How is Lyra?" she greeted with a large grin. She was stout and shaped like a plum. Her face consisted of rosy cheeks, smiling eyes, and a joyful smile. "Who is this little one?"

"Holly, meet Clarke Torry. He was neglected of his end of summer shopping trip," Professor Perkins explained.

"Hello dear, now let's get you measured for new school robes," Holly said with a smile, helping Clarke stand on a stool. With quick movements and a magic measuring tape, she took all of Clarke's measurements and went to work sewing up his tailored uniforms. Within 10 minutes, she was finished. "I'm also going to put together some dress robes for you. Since you need all new supplies, it's reasonable to believe you don't have them… unfortunately, I don't have the material I want to use at the moment, but I will send the robes to you once they're finished."

"That's very sweet of you Holly. We must be getting back, I promised the headmaster I'd have him back by lunch," Professor Perkins made known. "I'll be seeing you around."

After the pair left the boutique, the professor decided they needed to make one last stop. From a house elf, he learned during breakfast that Clarke Torry didn't have a pet; so he was going to take Clarke to the best pet shop in town, Cece's Pet Emporium. The child beside him, stayed quiet until they arrived outside the shop, where owls could be seen in the window. "Professor Perkins, what are we doing here?" he asked, turning his gaze from the incredible birds to his teacher.

"Well, I heard that you were without a pet, and they're great companions for children, so here we are," the professor explained strolling into the store. While the outside of the shop wasn't all that exciting, the inside was a sight to behold. The walls were a bright apricot orange, with small designs of animals that seemed to move and intermingle. The ceiling was Persian blue with white Chinese lanterns covered in pink flowers hanging from the ceiling. The store was organized with cherry wood shelves that held everything from various pet food to cages and tanks filled with animals. While owls and other birds stayed on the ceiling rafters, snakes and other reptiles, as well as small animals like hamsters, stayed in the tanks and cages. In the front of the store, there were large pens that didn't have a top that contained things such as cats, dogs, and creatures Clarke had never seen.

These pens were what attracted most of the boy's attention. He wandered over to a pen that held puppies of various breeds. In the back of his mind, he could remember having dogs once upon a time, pugs specifically. As he watched the puppies pounce on each other and chase toys, the reason why he didn't have dogs anymore came back to him, Baldric got rid of them due to allergies. He let out a loud sigh that caused his teacher to focus on him, but before his professor could address him a girl popped out from behind one of the shelves pulling the attention away from him. "Professor Perkins!" the girl squealed running over and engulfing the professor in a hug. "Oh, it's so lovely to see you! How do you like the shop? I finally got to open it."

"It's wonderful Cecile, I can tell you put a lot of work into it," Professor Perkins commented with a smile. "Clarke, this is Cecile Peaks, she was one of my former students. She graduated... Almost a decade ago," the professor introduced pointing to the young woman. She was in her twenties with long copper hair with lighter highlights, brown eyes, and cheeks sprinkled with freckles. She wasn't all that tall but she could pass for a taller height due to the black velvet heels with large bows that she wore. She gave Clarke a large grin and walked over to where he stood.

"You know, I bet you're a puppy person. I think this one might suit you," she said pulling a little brown poodle mix from the pen. She handed the puppy to Clarke, and instantly the puppy went to work licking his face causing him to erupt in giggles. "Since I'm doing so well in business, I'll give her to you for free and I'll only charge you for the food, collar, and other puppy necessities."

"I don't know if I can have her at-" Clarke began to say as he put the puppy down, prompting the little bundle of fur to whimper.

"Don't be silly, people have brought puppies to Hogwarts before, they just can't get too big. I had a crup when I was your age, that's basically a muggle puppy but magical," Cece encouraged, scooping the puppy and handing it back to Clarke. For a moment, Clarke mulled over the idea. After a few more seconds he smiled and hugged the poodle to his chest. Ten minutes later, Cece finished taking their payment and sending the necessary supplies to Hogwarts, prior to offering up her fireplace to let them get back to school.

By the time Clarke got to Hogwarts for lunch, he felt like he was in a dream. He couldn't remember the last time he went shopping or had such an excellent day. He gave a loud joyful sigh before tucking his new companion in his bed and heading to the Great Hall for a bite to eat.


	9. Chapter 9: Hoarding Isn't Necessary

Clarke had a habit of hoarding food. It started in the second grade, and it became such a big part of his daily routine that he did it for every meal. Whether it was at school or at home, during the rare times he ate with his family, he snuck food such as bread, crackers, and any other finger food into the pockets of his clothes. The only people who had noticed it so far were his friends, whom he would sit with at lunch until they left for middle school; but that all changed once he started his first year at Hogwarts. The first person who had noticed was a 4th-year girl by the name of Alice who always sat on his right to chat with her friends. It took her four days, but by dinner of their first Friday at Hogwarts, she realized that this boy had not only snuck once or twice like she originally expected, he did it every meal.

When she went back to her room, she sat on her bed. "Guys, I think there's a problem," she announced, earning her concerned looks from the other three girls who were settling into bed.

"What?" her roommate, Jean asked raising an eyebrow. "Is it that your dumb cat ate your lipstick again? Because that's not exactly a problem."

"No… but that is a problem. Anyways you know how we sit by that group of first years?" she asked trying to get to her point.

"Yeah," Aarav, another roommate clarified, changing out of her clothes and into her nightgown before sitting beside her friend on her bed.

"I think one of them might be homesick or something," Alice informed, concern taking over her features. Her roommate Fiona laughed and threw one of her many pillows at her.

"You prat! You had us worried. Being homesick isn't exactly a problem, everyone gets homesick their first year," she declared, as she sat crisscross on her bed and began to pull her hair into a fishtail braid.

"But it could be! There's something seriously wrong, he keeps putting food in his pockets.; and I don't mean just one or two meals. Every single meal, he stuffs half of the small portion he puts on his plate into his pockets. I know it could just be that he's growing or whatever but he's so small, and I just have this awful feeling something wrong…" Alice insisted, her hands moving with her words.

"Well.. let's say something is wron-" Jean began to say before their other roommate walked in.

"What are you talking about?" Kristen asked as she walked in, a pink towel wrapped around his head.

"Alice is worried about a little first-year boy," Fiona piped up.

"Hey Kristen, isn't your little brother a first year too?" Aarav questioned, an idea coming to mind.

"Yeah, but he's in Ravenclaw," Kristen answered giving the Indian girl a strange look.

"The Ravenclaws and Gryffindor first years have Charms together don't they? So, there's a chance that Niko knows this first year," Aarav pointed out.

"Do you know his name?" Jean asked looking back at Alice.

"It's… Clarke, I think?" Alice replied.

"Okay, so how about we do this, Kristen, can you talk to your brother tomorrow and see if he knows this "mysterious" first year?" Jean queried. Kristen nodded.

"What should we do in the meantime?" Fiona wondered holding her arms in a bid for Alice to throw back her pillow. Alice threw it back at her and laughed when the redhead fell back on her bed.

"In the meantime, we sleep. We'll come up with a plan at breakfast, but we need to get there earlier so we can talk without worrying about the first years hearing us. I don't want to explain why we're chatting about one of their friends eating habits," Aarav responded, climbing into her bed and under her covers. One by one, the girls turned off their lamps and followed the other girl into slumber.

The next morning, Kristen confronted her younger brother and asked him about the boy in her house. From him, she learned that they met at the library and that Clarke had some very interesting book suggestions. She also discovered that Clarke had a lot of food hoarded in his room. Afterward, she went to back to the Gryffindor table and sat down with her friends to relay the information to them. From there, the girls worked out a plan on how to confront the little boy. While there had been thoughts of cornering him and trying to talk to him; in the end, they decided that maybe only two of them should talk to him about it. By the time most of the kids came down for breakfast, including Clarke and his roommates, they came up with the solution that Alice and Jean should be the ones to talk to him and that they only could do it after breakfast to avoid a scene.

After the extremely slow breakfast, the pair followed the boy out of the Great Hall and pulled him into an empty classroom. "W-Who..?!" Clarke stuttered, shrinking back as his mind went to the darkest reasons for why these random girls would pull him away from his friends.

"Hey, hey don't be scared… I don't think you know me but I'm Alice. My friends and I sit by you and your friends. I noticed you don't eat all your food," Alice explained, making Clarke gave her a shocked and then a scared look.

"We just want to know why" Jean commented.

"I just like making sure I have food.." Clarke mumbled, hoping that would be enough of an explanation.

"But why?" Jean pushed. Clarke shrunk back from him and bit his bottom lip nervously.

"I just do…" he squeaked. Realizing that this child was frightened, Alice kneeled down beside him.

"Look, we don't mean to scare you. We just… I just want to let you know that you don't have to keep hiding food. There will always be food. No matter what.." she assured him, taking his hands not expecting him to jump back in fright. Keeping from grabbing his hands again, she continued. "You know, I could show you the kitchen if you want and introduce you to one of the house elves there, I'm sure they would love to make your food if you need it," she proposed with a grin.

"W-Would... W-Would you really..?" Clarke rasped.

"Of course! If you ever want me to show you, just ask me at one of the meals. We should get to class… but I hope we eased some of your concerns!" Alice shouted as she ran off.

"Bye kid," Jean said before following her friend away from the boy and to class.

Confused and relieved, Clarke left the classroom and tried to find his way back to his friends. It didn't become long until he began to panic, now terrified he would be late to class. However, just as he was about to have a panic attack; Clarke and the rest of his roommates showed up. Chris instantly became relieved when Clarke came into view and pulled him into a hug. "I was worried, let's get to class okay?" he told him, leading him and the rest of his roommates to their Potions lesson.


	10. Chapter 10: A Moment of Bliss Ruined

The next couple months were calm, almost perfect. Clarke avoiding getting injured and in turn avoided the infirmary. From September to November, he had a completely unexpected blast. He made more friends than he ever expected from Niko Midgeon: a fellow ravenous book reader who had a "mild" crush on an older Slytherin, to Phyllida Jorkins: a Hufflepuff who followed Quidditch the way Kaitlyn obsessed over football. While he could never tell any of these friends about his home life, it was still mind blowing to him that he wasn't targeted for some silly reason, like being smart.

Although being one of the more studious students in his class didn't make him a target, he still couldn't bring himself to achieve over the rest. While he definitely knew the material well and practically had it memorized, it was terrifying to think about what could happen if he tried to claim the spot of the top of the first years. Years of dealing with Jessica, caused him to become almost trained to keep a step back; but it didn't matter to him to take the spot because he didn't want to even tempt fate to turn his new friends against him.

Hope was a beautiful thing, an emotion of vivid colors and that when present caused the subject of the hope to feel like they were floating away from all the dangers of the world. For Clarke Torry, this hope felt new. While he always had his friends back in Mulberry, he knew that it was impossible for them to protect them from his family all the time. He had always understood that as much as they wanted to, they couldn't for various reasons. Clementine had student council, Austin had cricket practice almost every day, Kaitlyn was moving towards becoming an unforgettable football player, Ben had social obligations that at his status he couldn't ignore, and the other Gutierrez kids had things like work, scholarship essays, mountains of homework, and he knew he couldn't just rely on these high schoolers to ditch their own lives to help him. He had never had such overfilling hope and faith in life until he came to Hogwarts because Hogwarts felt like a dream.

Filled with hope, the burden of his home life was lifted from his shoulders and he became able to do the simple things in life without the constant fear of getting punished following his every movement. This hope caused the distress of not eating to disappear, it gave him the strength to talk to people he had never tried to speak with before, and it provided him with such bliss he let his guard down. From going to the library to read to studying with friends; every simple task stopped feeling like a miracle and more of a routine. He stopped focusing on footsteps, and his candles started to become rarely used because while his anxiety wasn't gone it became dormant. He learned to breathe without worry, and that itself was a blessing he had never expected.

It wasn't until the beginning of the snowfall and December, did this clarity end due to a red envelope delivered by a large dark feathered owl he had never seen before. When it dropped the letter on the table and flew away, his friends gave him wide-eyed looks. "Whoa! What did you do to receive a howler?" Anthony asked, unbelieving that his roommate who always made sure to stay out of trouble had gotten such a letter.

"A howler?" Clarke questioned flipping the envelope to look for the name of the sender.

"It's used to send anger and stuff, my parents sent me one after realizing I had taken some

money from them one time," John explained.

"Well don't keep us waiting, I want to know what you got one for! I bet it's because you checked out half the library," Paul joked. Hesitantly, Clarke opened the letter and it flew in front of his face.

"CLARKE LOUIS TORRY, HOW DARE YOU RUN AWAY! YOUR MOTHER AND I HAVE BEEN WORRIED TO OUR WITS END, WE HAD TO FIND OUT FROM DIEGO THAT YOU WENT TO FIND SOME IDIOTIC SCHOOL FROM YOUR STUPID FATHER'S FAIRYTALES?! IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR ARSE BACK HERE RIGHT NOW, I WILL PERSONALLY GO AND FIND YOU AND DRAG YOU BACK HOME BY THE EAR!" the letter yelled, Baldric's voice echoing through the entire hall, capturing not only the Gryffindor table occupants' attention but also Slytherins and Ravenclaws.

Clarke began to shake at just the voice, barely even listening to the words. Once the letter erupted into flames, he went into a full blown panic, dashing out of the Great Hall and back to his dorm room to pack. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid to think that Hogwarts would actually last. It had only been a matter of time before Baldric found out from one of Kaitlyn's more naive cousins.

While Clarke hurried to pack, his roommates were left trying to figure out what had just happened. "What the bloody hell just happened?!" Paul asked looking over at Chris and the others.

"I almost forgot he had run away, he told me the day we met…" Chris mumbled trailing off as he stood up to leave and go help Clarke calm down knowing that his friend would probably be freaking out right now. Before the others could say another word, he left and made his way upstairs and to Clarke's side; leaving the others to deal with the various students who wanted to know the gossip on Clarke as well as his friends. Soon enough, the three remaining boys were crowded, causing Professor Perkins to stand up and press the tip of his wand to his neck to amplify his voice.

"Sit down! All of you, Paul, Anthony, John, follow me. Everyone else go back to your meal!" he yelled, watching the standing students scurry to their seats. Once the pathway to the boys was clear, he left from his spot at the teacher's table and walked to their side prior to gesturing them to follow him to his office. After a few minutes of silence, the group reached the professor's office and were told to sit down on the couch parallel to the teacher's desk.

"What happened?" he questioned raising an eyebrow at the boys.

"We don't know sir," John answered.

"We didn't even know he had run away," Paul admitted glancing at Anthony and nudging him as a hint to talk.

"What's going to happen?" Anthony asked in a soft almost scared tone. He had grown to like Clarke, he was funny and terrific despite the first impression.

"While we can't keep Clarke here against his parents' wishes, I will however not let him leave until I go and talk to his parents," the professor promised, causing the trio of frightened students to give a unified sigh of relief. "Go back to breakfast, I will handle this." and not too long later, the boys were gone. He then stood up and marched to Clarke's dorm, able to hear the sobs from all the way down the hall.

"Y-You d-don't understand!" Clarke cried, trembling hands shoving more clothes into the backpack he had first used to bring his things on the train.

"Shh.. everything will be okay…" Chris hushed, pulling his friend away from his things and helping him onto his bed. He left him sobbing there for a minute as he took the lavender candles from Clarke's nightstand and set them on top, lighting them with the wave of his hand. He then sat on the bed and lifted Clarke's head into his lap. "It's going to be okay…" he comforted. They had been sitting there for a few minutes by the time the professor walked in to see Clarke still bawling and shaking.

To keep from further frightening Clarke, Professor Perkins stayed at the end of his bed, keeping his focus on Chris. "Christopher, I'm going to bring Clarke to the infirmary, he needs a calming draught. Once he's asleep, I need you to tell me everything you know about his parents okay?" he explained, gently lifting the boy. "Teeky!" he called, summoning a little house elf wearing what looked to be an apron.

"Yes Master Perkins?" she asked looking up at him with large blue eyes.

"Tell Madam Gaudette I'm bringing a distressed student in and he'll need a calming draught," he ordered as he headed out of the room, with Chris at his side. After a quick nod, the house elf disappeared with a pop.


End file.
